Saturday, December 22, 2007 (Ron)

I'm writing this one a couple of days late so my memory is a little hazy on most of the details.

We had breakfast and took a taxi into Playa del Carmen to the Phantom Diver's shop. They took our information and verified our certification with NAUI. The dive master could see that I didn't have much experience and asked if I was comfortable doing a fairly deep dive. I assured him it would be OK.

There were ten of us, including the dive master, Octavio. We got suited up, walked half a block to the beach and the dive boat, and headed off for our first dive location. Octavio told us it would be a little farther out than most divers go, but it was a great spot with no other divers. On the way out we were instructed on safety and procedures as well as what we could expect to see. When we got to the dive site, Octavio went in first, then had me jump in. Since I was the least experienced he wanted to keep and eye on me. I had trouble remembering how to use some of the equipment, but Octavio helped me out and soon we were all on our way down to eighty-five feet below the surface. The water was so clear that, even at that depth, we had a lot of light and visibility was excellent. There were a lot of fish, sponges, and coral of all types. It was very cool! Way too soon, I ran out of air. At eighty-five feet you should take about seven minutes to get to the surface in order to avoid decompression sickness. Knowing I couldn't hold my breath for seven minutes, even in an emergency, I got Octavio's attention and signaled that I was almost out of air. All breathing apparatus have two regulators - in case one fails or a member of your group runs out of air. You very rarely need it but it's good to have a backup. Octavio swam over and gave me his emergency regulator. At that depth you can't stay down long and it was about time to head to the surface, so we slowly ascended. With our dive master's help we all got back to the boat safely. On the way to the next dive site we all discussed what we had seen and how cool it was.

The second dive was not as deep, but the shallower the dive, the longer you can stay down. The first dive was to a depth of eighty-five feet, underwater for twenty-five minutes. The second dive was only forty-five feet, but we were able to stay down for fifty minutes. We had a lot more time for looking around, more opportunity to see things. There were at least three turtles. These guys didn't move around much so it was easy to observe them. They seemed to be grazing on the sea floor, one had a couple of fish eating stuff on his shell. There were a lot of fish and several large schools of them. Before the dive was over my air was gone and once again Ovtavio came to my rescue and shared his air. We all continued swimming, Octavio and I both using his air.

When we surfaced the water was a little choppy, so we were bobbing up and down waiting for the boat and a couple of us got sick (myself and one of the girls), but then everything was good. After returning to shore, Pat and I walked around Playa del Carmen a little, then stopped for lunch at Palapa del Hemingway. We had a very good meal, excellent service, and a fair price. A very enjoyable meal. After lunch we caught a taxi back to Mayan Palace. We were pretty worn out from the diving so we just hung out for a while.

We went to the pool-side restaurant again for supper and had a very nice, relaxing meal, then back to the suite. We read, journaled, and watched TV a little, then Pat went to bed and I went to the couch. Most of the beds in the resorts in Mexico are very firm. The one at Mayan Palace seemed especially uncomfortable so after getting a couple of terrible nights' sleep, I started sleeping on the couch. It was much better.

(Pat)

Ron had his experience diving - he did well for his fifth and sixth dives - he just used up his air faster and needed the assistance from Octavio. I started out the first dive unable to descend. I had emptied the air out of the B.C., was exhaling, and was still bobbing around on the surface. One of the other divers who was a Dive Instructor also finally came and grabbed my hand and headed off to the bottom with me in tow. Unfortunately he went too fast for my ear clearing ability and I had trouble equalizing fast enough. Once on the bottom I felt okay and after getting another couple of pounds of lead, was able to stay somewhat neutral. The dive site was a deep wall with sandy bottom. Lots of nice corals, sponges, and fish. The current was fairly strong so it was a drift dive. It wouldn't be too bad since you can just relax and float and watch the reef go by. Since I came down near the end it took me a while to figure out which of the group of divers was Ron - since at eighty feet and with all the gear on everyone looks the same until you got close. I didn't feel like I really relaxed on the first dive, having some trouble with buoyancy, then seeing Ron on Octavio's breathing regulator, I tried to stick close in case they were getting too low and Ron needed to share mine. I wasn't able to stay neutral at fifteen feet for the safety stop and got to the surface then managed to get down again. While we got our gear off to get back into the boat Octavio said I had blood on my face. Apparently I ruptured my ear drum on the descent and didn't realize it. The second dive was much more enjoyable for me. I got down okay, equalized okay, and had better buoyancy regulation. Lots of big fish schools, turtles, large green eels as well as nice corals and sponges. Again had blood on my face when we surfaced. I felt okay but noticed my right ear was not feeling equalized. No more diving or snorkeling on this trip.